Why Can't I Sleep At Night?
by MissAllieMae
Summary: "Why can't I sleep at night?" "A windmill full of corpses" This is for Wouldtheywriteasongforyou's Cards Against Humanity Competition.


**Disclaimer:** I am definitely not JK Rowling. She would never write this.

**A/N:** This is for Wouldtheywriteasongforyou's Cards Against Humanity Competition. My friends and I love the game, so I was super excited when I found this competition. However, I had no idea that I would end up writing this. I apologize in advance and you'll see why.

Hermione had been tossing and turning for over three hours and she finally decided that she could not simply toss and turn all night long. Clearly, she was not falling asleep right away and tossing and turning for much longer would not help her in anyway. She thought about where she could go for a slight change of scenery in the Burrow, without disturbing any of the other people currently sleeping in the house. Finally, she decided to go to the kitchen, which was her favorite room in the very crowded house. Hermione had determined that there was no way the house was being held up with wood and screws, or whatever a normal muggle house would consist of. While Hermione knew a lot of things, she did not know anything about how to construct a house. She did know enough, however, to realize that the house was being held up completely by magic. There's no way that the shape of the house could survive; it's not the Leaning Tower of Piza! There was also way more rooms than should have existed in that space, which implies that some sort of "bigger on the inside" charm was used, which gave the entire house that "way too crowded" feel. That feeling was exactly why she loved it, though.

Hermione crept down the steps, not wanting to disturb the rare and peaceful silence. With the house as busy as it always was, the Burrow was never quiet. She loved the chaos that accompanied the Weasley clan, but sometimes a break was necessary and, despite not being to sleep, she felt pretty peaceful.

Until she walked into the kitchen and found Ron, sitting at the kitchen table.

She knew she would have to converse with him. She was not particularly in the mood to talk, but would rather prefer to enjoy the serenity of the house with most of the Weasleys being asleep.

"Oh, hello," she said, with a bit uncertainty and definite curiosity.

"Hi, Hermione," Ron replied and then asked the main question burning in Hermione's mind, "Couldn't sleep?"

"No, I couldn't," Hermione said sighing, "I just keep tossing and turning. You know, I think that year traveling for Horcruxes in a tent really affected how I sleep. Sleeping in actual beds, not having to stress about who is keeping watching and actually getting to sleep the whole night really makes sleep difficult."

"I know," Ron said, before pausing for a second, "I just keep thinking about the Battle of Hogwarts and Malfoy Manor and stuff. It haunts me every second of the day."

"So you can't sleep at night, either?" Hermione asked.

"Nope. Every time I do, I have this same awful nightmare," Ron said, looking away, as if he was frightened just by talking about it.

"Tell me what happens in it," Hermione said gently, "Maybe that will help."

"It's so horrible, Hermione. So, so horrible."

"Talking about things like that can make them seem less terrifying. We can talk about it and then maybe you won't continue to have it."

Ron looked at her, thinking about what she said, "Maybe you're right. But brace yourself because it's not pleasant in anyway."

Hermione smiled, "I can take it."

"Okay," Ron finally agreed and closed his eyes, "It starts out with me wandering in a field. There's just grass for miles and miles on every single side of me. I have no idea where I am, but I'm completely alone and just walking with nowhere in particular to go. It's not particularly dark, but it's not sunny either. It's like a really cloudy fall day. Eventually, I reach the end of the field and find an abandoned town. It's eerie with wind blowing all the time and all of the buildings are falling apart, clearly having not been touched in years. I walk through the town, turning at random corners, just following the streets. It's kind of like I'm looking for something, but I have no idea what I'm looking for or where it might be located."

Ron stopped talking for a minute and then opened his eyes. He looked at Hermione, as if he was just remembering where he was and what it was that he has been describing. He said quietly, not breaking eye contact with her, "Here's where it gets bad, Hermione."

"Okay. I'm ready."

Ron looked around for a second, bracing himself for what came next, before once again closing his eyes and continuing to describe the nightmare, "Finally, I hit the center of the town, which is very open almost like a marketplace or something, and see a very large building of some sort. It's pretty dark in this part of the town, so I can't really make out what I'm looking at. Then, as if the town itself read my mind, the space becomes lit up. I find myself staring at a windmill, but it is obvious that the blades are not the normal lattice material. At first, I can't tell what the blades are made of, but as I watch it spin around and around, it slowly dawns on me. The blades are actual human bodies…well, corpses. It's a windmill full of corpses. I'm horrified and mystified at the same time and find myself entirely rooted to the ground, unable to move or avert my eyes from the sight. As I continue to watch, though, I find myself even more terrified by the sight. Those corpses aren't just any corpses. I begin to recognize bits and pieces. I see Fred's red hair, Remus's weird mustache, Tonks' purple hair, Dumbledore's white beard, Moody's mad eye, and Sirius' long hair. It's not just a windmill full of corpses, but a windmill of the corpses of the people who died at the hands of Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

Ron stopped talking and Hermione noticed how much his hands were shaking. She reached over to covers them with her own. He opened his eyes and saw her looking at him, very concerned. It took him a few seconds to find his voice, but then he whispered, "And then I wake up. I recognize all of the people who we lost in the war and that's it. The dream ends and I wake up with this horrible horrible image in my head. Every single night I see this in my dreams."

Hermione moved to hug him and he spoke again, his voice so incredibly close to breaking, "Hermione, I'm terrified to go to sleep. I can't sleep at night because of a windmill full of corpses."

A/N: Well, I hope I didn't give you nightmares. Please leave a review anyway! Thank you!


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